First Kiss
by Ralabee
Summary: When their relationship fades, one last effort is made to renew the spark - but will it be enough?


First Kiss

Kanaya stared up. She couldn't see the ceiling in the dark, but she stared at it all the same. Rose sat against one of the asymmetrical welts on the recupercoon's carapace.

"It'd be nice to actually share a bed…" The human girl's voice had an edge to it Kanaya wall all too used to hearing.

"You know-"

"Yes. I know. Homicidal rage." Rose folded her arms across her chest and before she realized it her lips had twisted down into a bitter frown.

"Homicidal?"

"Trollicidal. Whatever."

A soft sigh sounded behind her as Kanaya sat up. The mollifying slime pulled her hair back against her scalp and made her skin glisten. The troll could remember Rose saying that she looked sexy slick like this. Now she wasn't saying anything. "Hey…" She reached out, discovering the human in the dark, slowly following the line of her side up until she found an elbow.

The urge to pull away twisted in Rose's chest, but sputtered out a moment later. Sullen, she inched her hand closer to the troll's. Fingers rested over fingers, but the gesture held little more than cold comfort for either girl.

It was Rose who broke the silence. Kanaya never would. She would just linger there, hoping the silence would somehow lose its awkwardness. Rose did not have the patience for that tonight. With another sigh, she stepped away. A moment later she flicked the lamp on, wincing in the sudden shift of light. Illuminated, Rose started to feel the self-conscious flush that came with parading about without clothes. She glanced back toward the recuperacoon, expecting Kanaya's familiar leer. But the troll was just staring at the floor; another bitter twist contorted in the pit of Rose's chest. Refusing to acknowledge the troll, she got dressed and headed toward the door. Only then did Kanaya find a voice.

"Where are you going?" She started standing up out of the recuperacoon, but Rose turned her back and Kanaya stopped.

"Just out." The human answered.

"…I love you."

"Yeah, love you too." She couldn't make the words sound like more than the half-felt placation they were. Stepping out the door, Rose swallowed down a lump that felt as large and hard as a fist lodged in her throat.

The halls of the Veil complex echoed with Rose's steps. She didn't know where she was going. Eventually, aimless steps carried her to the massive stairs that ran across the complex's edifice. Rose stood on one the plateaus between staircases. Her attention drifting into the distance, casually regarding the asteroid belt that cluttered the sky. A nostalgic twinge struck a nerve, leaving Rose wanting a proper blue sky with clouds and a sun. Finally she just slumped back against a wall and let gravity drag her, seated, with her knees up against her stomach.

After what could have been a long time, Dave found Rose with her face buried in her palms, "So, y'wanna talk about it?"

"Yes, as evidenced by my being here. In a place so obviously conductive to social interaction. The sharing of soulful confessions particularly so."

"Well thank gog. For a second I thought something was seriously wrong. But seems everything's normal. Carry on." Dave didn't say anything more. He just leaned there on the wall beside Rose, staring off into the Veil. Eventually Rose pulled back her hands, looking over to the boy leaning there, hands in his pockets, face hidden behind those ridiculous sunglasses. Unbidden, a smile quirked into the corner of her lip and forced a single, snorting note of laughter from her.

"What?" Dave shrugged off the sudden laugh.

"You are so cool."

"Well, yeah, can't argue the facts." Dave let his legs stretch out, sliding down to meet Rose on the floor. He'd managed a smile out of her, so the hard work was done. "So, Kanaya…"

"Yeah. Kanaya… I think- I think things are over…" Rose's throat hardened just to say it.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. That's- that's the problem. Everything's just been the same for a while now. We've got nothing to talk about anymore. I think… we're just kidding ourselves at this point." Rose didn't struggle to find the words; she'd said them in her head many times by this point.

Dave's arm found its way around Rose's shoulders. She laid her head into his chest and he pulled her tight, "I know. It sucks."

"Is this how it was when you and Terezi ended?"

"What?" An uncertain scoff of a laugh punctuated Dave's confusion. "Uh, me and Terezi never started…"

"What?" Rose took her turn as the perplexed one. "Strider, are you attempting to save face by denying that your torrid love affair with Terezi and her infamous tongue ever happened?"

"No, Rose. Seriously. Terezi and me are just friends. Been friends. Gonna keep being friends."

"So then I have lost control of my perceptive faculties, because I was certain you two were 'filling pails' as the cool kids say."

"And we are cool kids."

"The coolest."

"But seriously-"

"You keep using that word, Strider. I'm starting to grow concerned…" Hiding behind her signature smirk, Rose sat up from Dave's embrace and fixed him with a slanted stare.

"Rose!"

"Sorry…"

"I'm trying to tell you. Terezi and I did that for a while. But it wasn't a- wasn't a commitment. It was just another part of our friendship."

"So, why did you stop?"

Dave shrugged, "Just wasn't what we needed anymore."

Rose stared down between her shoes. Dave made it sound so simple. A friend when you wanted, a lover when you needed. Like so many others today, her next breath came as a long sigh. "You're too cool, Strider." A morose jealousy colored the girl's voice.

Solemnly, the boy nodded, "The coolest."

Rose put her head back, letting it hit against the industrial stone of the complex's wall.

Elsewhere in the complex, Kanaya tried to focus on her plants. There were precious few of them, all stout, hardy, needled things native to Earth deserts. They required so little and still managed to flower beautifully. It did no good. Rose had arranged for the cacti to be appearified as a gift. They were completely useless as a distraction from the human girl.

John found Kanaya fixing her withering stare on the potted plants, elbows set on her knees and chin settled in her palms, "Oh, hi Kanaya!"

The troll glanced up, her expression wilted, "Greetings, John…"

"Oh, sorry. Bad time?"

Kanaya was quick to shake her head, "No." A confessing sigh followed, "Yes."

"Oh, sorry. Uh, should I go…?"

"No. It is fine."

The human boy made his way to Kanaya's side, sitting down beside her. Despite her mood, Kanaya found John's presence comforting. His wide, buck-toothed smile and eager eyes were instantly infectious. Pulled from their mope, Kanaya's lips picked up, corners holding the shades of a smile.

"What?" John asked, trying to read the troll's mood.

"Oh, nothing. It is just hard to sulk when you are about."

"Why're you moping?"

"It is Rose. And me. It just… has not been working lately."

John's expression fell, a distraught whine warbling off his frown, "But you and Rose are like the cutest thing ever!"

"What about you and Karkat?"

"Exactly! We need all of the adorable gay couples!

"All of them?"

"All of them!"

The troll girl's fangs set against her lip as she suppressed a giggle, "So things with Karkat are good?"

John nodded, a wistful grin spreading across his face as he glanced upward, studying the ceiling briefly.

"Are- are you blushing?"

The human merely shrugged, but the observation of his ripened cheeks caused them to bloom into a fully realized blush. Flustered, he pulled his hood forward, trying to hide behind it. Kanaya laughed at first, but her mood soured. The blushing and squirming and reserved smiles reminded her too much of how Rose and she had been back when their romanced first bloomed. Her melancholy returned, pressing on her shoulders like a weight.

John's mirth went with Kanaya's, "Sorry."

"It is not your fault." She threw up her hands, letting her arms fall slack at her sides. "It just sucks, yes?"

"I know. What's, uh, what's wrong?"

The pair sat in the distant corner of the complex, Kanaya occasionally glancing to the table full of cacti. The answer came delayed and uncertain. "We- I do not… we have not had a real moment in a long time. I do not think she's happy anymore and I do not know how to fix it."

"You've been together for a while now, right?"

Kanaya nodded.

"Well, maybe you just need to do something big and romantic!" John's infectious grin returned. His unrelenting optimism was difficult to resist, again tipping Kanaya toward a smile. "Like, go out on a date or something."

"I am not certain-" Kanaya seemed wary of the idea.

"But it would be perfect! It's what me and Karkat do!" John gestured with abandon, hands thrown over his head. His enthusiasm won the troll over and the two began to plot.

Kanaya moved slowly through her respiteblock, spreading the flame from the long candle in her hand to the many others arranged across the chamber. The door opened behind her with its customary science-fiction-esque pneumatic swoosh, turning the troll's head, "Rose! Close your eyes!" The urgency of the instruction sent the human's hands over her eyes.

"Why are my eyes shut? And why is our room full of candles?"

A distressed whine filled the room, Kanaya's posture falling slack, "Aw, you saw…"

"Even Terezi could not fail to. Can I peek now?" Rose remained with her hands over her eyes, awaiting permission. A moment passed before she found her hands pulled by the wrist. Her first sight was of Kayana's jade painted fingernails, "Hey."

"Hey." Kanaya rested her forehead against Rose's, filling her field of vision with the human's eyes. Locked by one another's gaze, the two girls lingered there for what seemed a long while, sharing smiles. The moment finally passed, ending in a brief kiss.

"So, what is this?" Rose examined the respiteblock, which was adorned with dozens of flickering lights.

"This," a note of pride rang in the troll's voice as she gestured to the decorated chamber, "is a date. We are going to feast on the Earthly disk of bread and the red sauce and the homogenized renderings of the Earthly moobeast secretions."

"Pizza." Rose smirked, a shade of déjà vu touching the back of her mind.

"Yes, that." Kanaya smiled. The pizza was hot, freshly appearified from Earth's past. It was laid out across the only flat surface in the room: Rose's bed. The pair made their way over, Rose ready to sate her teenaged appetite. Kanaya was more reserved, taking only two slices of the greasy pie.

"You're not hungry?" Rose asked, acutely aware that she had helped herself to twice Kanaya's portion.

Shrugging the worries aside, the troll answered, "This is fine." Romance was on Kanaya's mind. She didn't want to ruin the mood she hoped to create by becoming bloated and greasy. So settled, the two made their way to the sofa, one of the few other pieces of furniture in the repurposed storage room. The couch was set facing a large electronic apparatus, a sizable screen its most prominent feature. "We have the films of the Hitchcock human. The one featuring the avian invasion and the one focusing on the defenestrated wall."

"The Birds and Rear Window."

"Yes. Those." Kanaya smiled, her fangs tinged red from the pizza's sauce, "Which would you prefer?" Rose picked Rear Window. Up from the couch, the troll girl fussed with the control panels for the wall-sized apparatus. Soon enough the movie was playing and the two girls fell in against one another. Settled comfortably, the pair assumed familiar positions, snuggled up in the coach. It was all very standard; they had snuggled just like this countless times before. But something continued to pull at Rose's memory. It was past the midpoint of the movie when she finally remembered. Remembered because this had been exactly the point when she had interrupted the movie last time. "This is the first movie we watched together."

"Mmhm…" Kanaya was the little spoon, held in the fold of Rose's arms. With a hushed note of affection she wiggled back, expressing her curves into the human's lap. "Remember what happened next?"

"As I recall, I asked what you were thinking about. And you responded…"

"Wondering what Earth lips felt like. And then you…" As Kanaya's recalling trailed away, Rose's cheeks were kissed by an embarrassed shade of pink. The troll giggled and moved her hand into Rose's palm, slipping her fingers between the human's and squeezing them tightly, "Yes, just like that."

"And then I…" Rose's empty hand brushed under Kanaya's chin, tipping her head up. Rose shifted over the troll girl, turning her head just slightly aside. Earth lips felt soft, just as soft as Alterian lips and the two girls melted into the point of contact. Eyes shut and bodies shifting, they lavished one another. Rose pressed her tongue out first, Kanaya quickly joining. The human gasped, the sharp press of Kanaya's fangs against her tongue still as thrilling a pleasure some thousand kisses after the first. Shifting and wrestling against one another, the two eventually settled with the Alterian girl well under her human partner. They had managed to tangle their legs together, Kanaya's bent at the knee, thigh pressing up between Rose's. "I…" Her voice was heavily flushed, "I don't think our first kiss went quite like that…"

Rose shook her head. Her hair was a mess, its pink band pushed to a disheveled angle. With a laugh she pulled the thing off all together and dropped it, forgetting it before it reached the floor. "No." Kanaya was helpless against the sight of Rose's chest rising and falling in time with her deep, deliberate breaths. "Not nearly that well choreographed."

"We wound up more or less like this, though."

Rose's hair was free to bounce along her jaw line, sweeping along in waves of gold with every motion of her head. Kanaya was entranced. "More or less." The human agreed, nodding. "Though my recollection is that you were more reserved." Rose gave her hips a poignant shake, Kanaya's hands resting thereupon. The troll dipped her chin, eyes glancing off to the middle distance, "I like your hips." Her voiced dwindled into a sheepish hush as her cheeks succumbed to a furious green. Despite her embarrassment, she pressed her fingers in, dimpling Rose's skin until it refused to yield further.

"So you said back then."

"On the bed…"

"When I asked…" The two were already off to Rose's bed, recreating the memory of their first encounter along the way. Kanaya reached for Rose's wrist, pulling her to a stop halfway across the room. The troll's fingers quickly moved from the human's arms to her hips, reaching behind to the bow of her sash. Rose's eyes were half shut and her face lit by a deviant sort of smile as she tried to reach for the hem of Kanaya's skirt. The gesture clashed with the other girl's, wrists knocking elbows and hands trying to squeeze between bodies until the human relented, content to stand still and feel sexy as the troll knelt at her feet and put her hands down her legs. Kanaya stared up at the other girl, her eyes bright with affection. Fingers curled in, gathering the black of the human's robe and pulling it upward. Rose raised her arms and in one deft motion she was standing in her shoes and underwear, nothing more. Kanaya knelt again, hands exploring Rose's near nakedness. On her knees she stared up at the human, savoring the sight of pink panties imprinted with a pattern of many tiny, angry squids. Her fingers reached there as well, teasing the elastic waist. She didn't pull them off yet. That was still to come, but she could still enjoy peeking at the sparse golden curls hidden behind the layer of pink. Rose's petite chest was cupped by a bra of matching color, its only ornament a tiny bow of white ribbon set upon the bridge of the two cups.

Kanaya was slow to rise, brushing her forehead along Rose's legs and stomach in her assent. Her eyes were shut, her nostrils flared as she drank in the human's familiar scent, the memory of the first time she'd experienced the aroma shivering through her. Rose made soft noises when touched, hands gripping Kanaya's horns. She polished the colorful points against her palms, making the troll girl go stark still and pant against Rose's belly, "Gog…"

When Kanaya finally reached her feet, Rose practically pounced, pulling the girl's black shirt off her body with a hungering growl. Spinning her around, Rose pressed herself into Kanya's back, setting her figure as fully to the other's as she could. Her hands crossed the troll's chest and were met by their grey counterparts, which rested over them. Flexing her fingers, the human clawed down Kanaya's bare stomach while pushing with her hips, the gasping troll pushing right back. The human was no less urgent in the removal of Kanaya's skirt. Her fingers were intimately familiar with the garment, able to reduce it to a red crumple around the troll's ankles with just a few tugs. Rose pressed again, snuggling her lap against Kanaya's ass, her squids becoming intimate with the spectrum of color hugging the troll's hips. The shorts were an assortment of every color, arranged in vertical stripes across Kanaya's grey backside. Rose laughed, causing Kanaya to squirm all the more.

Rose had always envied her troll's bust line. As much as one could envy it when they had license to cradle the succulent swells in her palms and knead them until Kanaya laid her head back on the human's shoulder, letting her mouth hang open and crying out notes so hot and ripe that Rose could practically taste the nectar dripping off them. Which is exactly what Rose did. Kanaya's bra was far more reserved than her undershorts: plain black with Virgo's symbol emblazoned upon the left cup. Rose sank her fingers against the dark material, filling her hands with the softness of Kanaya's body.

The flushed pair stumbled to the bed, pausing often when the urge to kiss and scratch and squeeze became too much to bear. Finally they reached their destination, Rose playfully pushing Kanaya at the shoulders, forcing her on the mattress. Casting her shadow over the troll, she reached back and unfastened her bra. Kanaya lips pursed together, tongue tracing across them at the sight of Rose's nipples contrasting her pale skin. She cooed when Rose pulled her panties down, stomach going taught when her eyes followed the taper of the human's little curls over her rise right down to the ripe folds set between her legs. The human was left almost completely bare, only a pair of pink socks that reached no higher than the bump of her ankles remaining.

"You too…" Rose spoke warmly, but in a tone that left no room for argument. Kanaya rolled back, legs pointing straight upward. Hoisting her hips, the troll dug her thumbs into the waist of her rainbow shorts and pushed, sliding them over the curve of her ass.

"You were not this much of a tease the first time…" Rose slid forward, setting her hands upon the bed at either side of the troll girl. She'd left her panties stretched across her thighs, blocking Rose's view of her nook. Growling, the human set her smile into Kanaya's throat, pressing her body close as she tried to wedge her hands between the bed and the other girl's back.

"What are you doing?" Kanaya's hips had rolled to one side, legs paired across the covers, setting her in the shape of an 'L'. Rose's lap was pressed against the half-bare cheek of her bottom and her body was laid out over Kanaya's.

"Trying to get your bra open."

Kanaya broke into giggles. Her arms raised and wrapped around the girl, holding her tight.

Rose grunted with her effort, "What?"

"It clasps in the front."

Rose stopped, hands pressing flat into the sheets. A laugh leapt from her tongue, her head setting between the curves of the troll's breasts. The two giggled together, Kanaya holding her arms around the back of Rose's head. "It clasped in the back the first time…"

"I could hold my hands to my body and curl up, scared to death that you find my appearance lacking. For the sake of authenticity…"

"Not necessary." Rose gave the clasp a good twist, springing it open. Kanaya's breasts, suddenly liberated, bounced once and were immediately met by Rose's mouth. Drawing the green cap into her lips, the human girl moaned against the skin, her tongue tracing circles around the soft areola. She raised a leg in the same motion, shifting to take her place upon Kanaya despite the troll's twisted posture. Straddling her hips, Rose lavished the other girl's breast, closing her teeth around the tip once it stiffened.

Kanaya turned her waist again, lying flat entirely with her legs raised behind the human's back. She gasped, raising her back and pressing her thighs together when Rose's teeth pinched her flesh.

Leaving the troll's nipple glistening, Rose's ran the end of her tongue from one raise to the next, sealing her lips around as yet unmolested green peak. Grey fingers combed through Rose's blonde roots, curling in and tugging as their owner was made to gasp and pant under the affection of the human's tongue. When Kanaya's nipples began to ache, she pulled more urgently, bringing Rose up. The troll was voracious in her kiss, tongue glancing into the Earth girl's mouth and tracing circles around its sister muscle. Kanaya's nostrils flared, needful noises spilling through them. Responding, Rose slipped free of the grasping hands and began the descent down Kanaya's body. She shifted off the troll's lap and fell from the bed entirely, taking to her knees. Her arms hooked around Kanaya's thighs, pulling her waist to the edge of the mattress. Hungry, Rose's teeth set in the seat of the panties still tangled above the troll's knees and tugged. It was a poignant gesture, complete with a light growl, but merely stretched the shorts without actually moving them. Rose brought her hands down the troll's legs, finally stripping the girl entirely. Kanaya's buttery, shale lips were slightly parted, her jade nook flush and full. Rose pulled again, drawing the other girl's legs across her shoulders. All at once the human's face was level with the troll's sex and the both of them moaned. Kanaya from the warm breath falling upon her nook and Rose from the smell of the tepid heat less than an inch from her nose.

Staring down her own body, Kanaya watched Rose's blonde crown bobbing between her thighs. And she felt the tip of her tongue running up the length of her nook. She spread her arms out, twisting her hands into the sheets. Her jaw was set and her breath was tight, making every breath the source of a new little noise. The sharp symphony was not lost on Rose, who began to focus her tongue on Kanaya's crest, which drew the clearest notes from the troll. "Spread your legs." She instructed quickly, a mixture of spittle and Kanaya running off her chin.

Compliance was nigh instant and just a moment later Kanaya felt two fingers tracing along the smooth skin between her legs, lining up to the quivering dip that led into her body. She cried, the muscles inside her wrapping around the Earth girl's delicate digits. The gasping, moaning girl was incredibly tight, but Rose did not comment. Her tongue had far more pressing priorities. Curling her tongue as rapidly as she could, Rose pressed her fingers just slightly to the left. It was the place she knew would make Kanaya sing.

"Oh gog! Oh gog!" Kanaya's climaxes were always a production. Loud, passionate, sweating and sweet. Her body so tight it practically crushed Rose's fingers. The troll raised her hips, curving her back and pushing herself up as her toes curled, twisting behind Rose's head. Rose managed a moan between gasps, the noise riding through her tongue right into the apex of Kanaya's excitement. The troll's eyes rolled back, fluttering rapidly and then finally shutting entirely as her body reached that last precarious peak. Rose did not let up when she heard the first of the other girl's orgasmic screams, but laid in wildly, her fingers and tongue electric upon their respective targets. The sudden energy brought Kanaya up again, thighs squeezing around Rose's head until some invisible line was reached. Oversensitive, the troll set her jaw and whimpered, "Okay. Okay… stop, please…"

Rose eased down, slowly stilling. The both of them were breathless and lightheaded. The Earth girl had little sensation left in her tongue and fingers while the Alterian had gone numb from the waist down. Kanaya rolled onto her side, drawing her legs up toward her stomach. A soft giggle was bubbling threw as she let herself be carried on the thermals of her afterglow.

"Good?" Rose teased, crawling up to put her lips on the troll's ear.

"I will tell you when my think pan has returned…" Kanaya's every word was a gleeful note.

"So do you need a break?" Rose was on her knees, a hand cupping her pale, pink mound. Her fingers rolled and her body slurped around them, announcing unmistakably that she was sopping.

"I do not need a think pan for that…" The flushed troll lay back, gesturing for Rose to come. Her tongue extended, tracing across her lips in a gesture more eager and hungry than slow and smoldering.

With a warm hum Rose scooted over, setting her knees on either side of Kanaya's head. Easing back, the human's bottom nestled upon the other girl's pillowy chest.

"Here, give me a pillow…" Kanaya lifted her head, setting into Rose's need. The kneeling one suddenly found it incredibly difficult to focus on reaching for the head of the bed. She would have found it incredibly difficult to focus on much of anything in that moment; such was the nature of having a tongue thrusting inside as deep as it will reach. With effort, Rose managed to grab the corner of a pillow and set it beneath the troll's neck, relieving the stress of craning up a treating Rose's pussy like a honey pot. The human's hips made a show of it, grinding in slow circles, forcing Kanaya's tongue against every available surface. She reached down, again polishing the troll's horns against the softness of her palms.

Kanaya gasped, retracting her tongue, "My everything is sensitive right now! I can not handle that and you at the same time…"

Rose's features quirked, eyes catching a dangerous light, "I'm sorry." Her voice had dropped to a rolling timber, "Am I distracting you?" One hand held the base of Kanaya's barbed horn while the other drew down the other, fingertips tracing the point where it met with her skull.

"Ah!" Kanaya's toes were curling again, her moans making Rose's sex tremble. The human girl did not let up, wringing her hands around the bases of each of the troll's horns, hips grinding up against her gasping jaw. Kanaya's voice raised in pitched until she was squealing against Rose's thighs, fangs viciously set into the soft skin. Rose's stomach drew tight, body bending forward; Kanaya's teeth had sent an electricity up her spine that made her heart pound in her chest. Fingers set in against Rose's back, dragging down with such force that they right bright red lines, causing her to throw her chest forward and arc her spine back, toes twisting in their socks.

Torture to the horns did not relent until Kanaya laid her head back, tongue laid panting like an animal. Her arms did not have the strength to cling to Rose and laid sprawled across the bed. Rose stared down at the conquered girl, a mixture of embarrassment and pride playing out in the curve of her mouth, "Did you-?"

"Yes. A little one… I- I do not think I can finish…"

"I already did." Rose put a hand to base of her belly, trembling at how sensitive her skin had become.

"You are evil…"

"You love it."

"…Yes."

The two laid limp together for what seemed like hours. Both their bodies trembled at the slightest of touches, making cuddling at once wonderful and agonizing. They lied very, very still, saying nothing. At first it seemed to be the blissful, breathless silence of two simultaneous afterglows, but eventually both regained their breath and the quiet persisted until it became uncomfortable. Kanaya started to shift, agitation twisting in the pit of her stomach and threatening to claw its way up into her chest. Pressing her forehead to Rose's, she shared in a lingering stare and a quick kiss before slipping away from the covers. Rose watched her go, languidly tracing a finger across the bite marks imprinted in her thigh. The troll girl tried to saunter toward her recupercoon, but her legs had already begun to stiffen, sending her stumbling as she crossed the floor.

"It'd be nice to actually share a bed." The words hung in the air, weighing against both girls' hearts. Kanaya stopped short, staring down into the green slime. She couldn't bring herself to settle down into the pacifying ichor, or turn around and face Rose.

When the human put her hand on Kanaya's shoulder, she flinched, "This…" She could hear herself almost crying. The distress in her voice brought her worries to the forefront and her vision quickly blurred as tears collected, "This did not fix anything, did it?" She turned, sniffling, to face Rose.

The urge to console the girl pulled at Rose's heart, but she couldn't find the strength to lie. "No."

Her lip convulsed as she shook her head. Kanaya's composure shook apart, reducing her to heaving sobs as she clung to Rose and Rose clung back.

"I am so sorry." Kanaya croaked, barely able to speak over her gulping breaths.

Rose clenched her eyes shut, but it did no good. The tears spilled down her face nonetheless. She started blinking rapidly, trying to keep herself from collapsing entirely, "You didn't do anything. Nothing was ever wrong."

"Then why is this ending?"

Rose wrapped her arms as tight as she could around the one she loved, "I don't know."

Silence fell over the two, both unwilling to let the other go. Both worried that if they released the other there would be nothing left holding them up. Rose broke the silence, "I still want you in my life. It's just… this isn't working anymore."

Kanaya turned her head aside, her bottom lip trembling uncontrollably, "I know."

Rose brought the girl's eyes back to hers, "I still love you." The words held the meaning they had been lacking for ages. It was a small comfort, but the pair needed any comfort they could find.

"I love you too, Rose." Kanaya began to relax her arms. "I thought this would last forever. And when it started to not…" She just shook her head.

"It's not over. I mean, yes, this is over. But I still want to be in your life."

"'You hope we can still be friends'?" Kanaya chewed the phrase and spit it out, lip twisting. "That is the Earthling colloquialism, correct?"

"No! You're always going to be more than that." A frustrated growl seethed up inside Rose, "I don't have the words for it."

Kanaya shut her eyes, resting her brow on the Earth girl's, "I think I understand."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Can you explain it to me? Because I do not believe I even fully comprehend it."

Kanaya did not have the words either. Just a vague sense of understanding shared with Rose. The troll shrugged and the two girls exchanged sad smiles with one another as they gathered up their clothes. They dressed, and then they held each other again.

"Thank you." Rose whispered, resting her head on Kanaya's shoulder.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."


End file.
